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Speed spot study by comparing time mean speed and space mean speed: A case
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International Journal of Advanced Science and Research

International Journal of Advanced Science and Research

ISSN: 2455-4227
Impact Factor: RJIF 5.12
www.allsciencejournal.com
Volume 3; Issue 1; January 2018; Page No. 97-102

Speed spot study by comparing time mean speed and space mean speed: A case study
*
Javid Ahmad Khan, Shahid Rasool Tarry
Department of Civil Engineering, Lovely Professional University, GT Road, Phagwara, Jalandhar-Delhi, Punjab, India

Abstract
Objective: Speed being an important factor in terms of safety, comfort, time and economics as we generally carries out the speed
spot studies for the determination of speed percentiles and speed distribution of a free flowing traffic stream at a particular
location. As the data we collect or gather will be evaluated and are then used for determine the speed limits usually two main
percentiles are often used i.e. (50th and 85th).which can be further analyzed for making important speed related decisions. The Aim
of doing speed spot studies is to have a look at speed character. which are already existing on the road system as we know that
traffic engineering generally involves collection of the data upon that factors the design speed is formed or posted for a particular
road system as spot speed study is done for being an important traffic studies tool as it gives us idea about the traffic flow
conditions under prevailing condition. As we know that usually the finial resource decrease with increasing population and due to
increase in the traffic volume it has posed a challenge for the engineers to think about the situation and to handle large amount of
traffic. As the data gathered from traffic theory are the important tools regarding the planning, designing and operational use of a
road system due to rapid increase in the traffic volume it becomes very much difficult to maintain the design speed for a road
system. Which results in the delay for reaching the destination or target point generally three parameters are to be used in the
traffic theory are Volume, capacity and speed. The relation between these parameters has a great impact on traffic regulation and
simulation. Speed data is collected on the mid-section of the 4 lane road stretch Rama-Mandi to Hoshiarpur in Punjab, India. In
this study we have calculated the Space mean speed and Time mean speed and proven the relationship between the two i.e.
VT>VS. This paper represents the traffic conditions on the road stretch Rama-Mandi to Hoshiarpur (NH3) and tries to analysis the
results obtained from the speed spot study during off-peak hours. From this paper we come to know about the recommendation for
improvement in the existing road system to provide good level of service and to come up with the appropriate speed limits.

Keywords: speed, volume, percentile speed, speed distribution, level of service (LOS), time mean speed (VT), space mean speed (VS)

Introduction the prevailing conditions. Which are very useful in making

Road network plays substantial part in social & economic many speed related decisions. Speed includes spot speed,
program of a Country. Transportation sector is a dynamic journey speed and running speed? The main purpose of spot
element related with almost all activities of life. Road speed studies is to record speed characteristics under existing
accidents are becoming serious problem in current situation all traffic conditions at a specific location along a roadway.
over the world. Road accidents due to traffic flow are the Speed spot studies is an important element toward the
primary cause of death by injuries and overall 10th primary engineering use as it provides the benchmarking of the speed
cause all over world according to W.H.O: percentiles which are further used in many speed related
 1.2 million people die in road accident annually decisions like speed design, managing of the traffic volume
 Total Number of victims that are injured or gets disabled and posting of the speed limits.as we know that speed gets
in road accidents every year are about 50 million effected by no. of factors which include traffic volume and the
type of road.as it can be observed that it is higher in case of
Speed as being an important factor as it is concerned with the express ways and highways and bit lower in the collectors and
time, comfort, safety and economics as well. The quality of the street ways speed is also effected by the lane width and the
level and safety can be achieved by the speed on a given road sight distance As we know that Speed decreases with an
system. We can define speed as the rate of movement of increase in traffic volumes. Traffic volume may be defined as
vehicle in a given distance per unit time. The typical speed the number of vehicles that passes a point along a roadway or
units are kilometer per hour (km.ph) or miles per hour (mph). traffic lane per unit time.
Time mean speed and space mean speed are the two types of  It becomes compulsory to understand traffic speed
speed. The Space mean speed can be defined as the average characteristics as it is important requirement in the field of
time taken by the various vehicles over the specific section or traffic engineering. As speed generally indicates the
on the length of the section which are passing over that quality of service experienced by the traffic stream. To
section. The Time mean speed or spot speed is the average have knowledge of speed is an essential component of
speed at the spot of various vehicles at a given stretch. Spot traffic engineering and projects related to geometric design
study is carried out see the distribution of flow pattern under of roads, regulation and control of traffic operations and

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International Journal of Advanced Science and Research

improvements, accident analysis, before-and–after studies parameters have been observed and later evaluated on selected
of road improvement schemes, assessing journey times, urban road, connecting Samarkhachokdi to Anand new bus
congestion along roads and in correlating capacity with station by DK Thakor. Traffic volume study and spot-speed
speeds. study have been conducted at both the ends of road system
 The study we are conducting based on speed spot study so and analysis has been carried out.
Spot speed is the speed or instantaneous speed of a
particular vehicle when it passes a section over a given Experimental setup/methodology
period of time. Spot speed is measured by the calculating Stop watch method
the time taken by the vehicle to cross the section at a It is one of the easy way to find out the speed spot study in
particular spot. These Spot speed studies are generally stop watch method is generally used for small sample size
carried out to frame out the distribution curve for the road which is taken over a short section on high way for a small
system and to analyses the median speed over the specific period of time. This method is quick and inexpensive for the
location on the cumulative frequency graph. Spot speed is collection of data stopwatch method is a quick and
generally measured by an enoscope, radar and timing Inexpensive method for collecting speed data
procedures (stop watch method).Manually the speed spot
study has been performed in order to carry out the whole Key steps in stop watch method
process for our data and the data has been analyzed.  Acquire suitable length for study.
 Choice appropriate site and its layout.
Literature review  Recording the observations from stop watch observations
Highways are generally built for the society. They are not on stopwatch.
movable but they provide the service to the transport sector in  Determine the vehicle speed
turn which provides service to the humans for comfort.one of  Create frequency distribution tables from the data gathered
the main thing is the speed limit on Highways which are built and determine the speed percentiles from the data table
by society for their comfort (Winch 1963). As one of the case
study that is speed data from Ontario by using the institute of Procedure
transportation. They suggested that the speed limits on the  Two observers are at the starting point one holding stop
highway should be increased by using the method of 85 th watch and other one with pen and the sheet to write down
percentile as the main asset according to that 85% of the the readings
drivers drive at the same speed under the free flow condition  The third observer is having a flag in his hand at the end
The method used is based on the 85th Speed percentile. This point of the section to indicate the vehicle has crossed the
is the speed at which or below which 85 percent of drivers section
travel. It was observed that the speed limits posted on the  As the vehicle enters the section the stop watch is started
specific location were not followed the site namely (401) the as soon as the front wheels touches the reference line
speed limit posted is 100 km/h but in real conditions it should  The third observer standing at the end point raises the flag
be between 110-130 km/h and the other site that is (401) the to indicate the vehicle has crossed the section
speed limit should be increased from 105-110 km/h as on the  As soon as the flag is raised the stop watch is stopped and
existing ONTARIO highway the elapsed time taken by the vehicle is noted down on the
As we know that traffic engineering involves the use of sheets
different engineering methods to achieve the safe and efficient  This procedure is simultaneous carried out for different
movement of goods and people along the road. Traffic flow is group of vehicles
generally concerned with the safe and the efficient flow of  Sample size of usually 50( 10 trucks, 10 buses, 10 four
traffic and in turn it is indirectly attached with the traffic flow wheelers, 10 three wheelers and 10 two wheelers ) is
pattern or distribution basically three parameters are generally carried out on the site to yield good results
prevailing in the traffic distribution that is volume, speed and  After analyzing the time elapsed by individual vehicle the
capacity. In order to deal with the future needs the traffic vehicle speed is calculated for every vehicle to cross the
management and planning to overcome needs the future needs section
of traffic related is to be done. Due to change in the economic  After calculating the speed, normal distribution and
conditions the traffic volume has increased significantly and cumulative frequency distribution are carried out to find
movement of the people towards city area for rapid growth of out the speed percentiles
industrialization. Along with which the concern about speed  Usually (50th and 85th) percentiles are carried out to find
have been rising for a long time. This work by A Arib et al out the desired speed limits on particular road system
provided the traffic speed distribution in the city of Dhaka at a  Bar charts and the graphs are made on the excel sheets to
particular junction. carry out the further requirements for speed percentiles
In order to have a scientific planning of road system, it is  Time mean speed and space mean speed are analyzed and
important to have a proper data base of existing traffic their relationship is to be analyzed for the particular road
parameters on the road system. The different traffic system

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International Journal of Advanced Science and Research

Results and discussion

Table 1: Speed data collection (speed spot study)

Speed spot study
Date:21/22.11.2016 Start Time: 12PM, End Time: 2 PM
Location: NH-3 (Rama Mandi-Hoshairpur Road) Wheather: Sunny
Trucks Buses
Dist. M Time Sec. Speed m/s Speed km/hr. Dist. m Time Sec. Speed m/s Speed km/hr.
60 4.8 12.5 45 60 4 15 54
60 4.5 13.3 48 60 3.2 18.8 67.5
60 4.2 14.3 51.43 60 3.1 19.4 69.68
60 5.3 11.3 40.75 60 3 20 72
60 5.2 11.5 41.54 60 4.2 14.3 51.43
60 5.5 10.9 39.27 60 4.1 14.6 52.68
60 4.1 14.6 52.68 60 3.2 18.8 67.5
60 4 15 54 60 3 20 72
60 4.2 14.3 51.43 60 3 20 72
60 5 12 43.2 60 3.2 18.8 67.5

Formula for calculating the speed

Where,
V = spot speed (mph),
D = length (feet), and
T = elapsed time (seconds). In the equation,
1.47 is a constant that converts units of feet per second into miles per hour.

Table1 represents the spot speed of trucks and buses, table 2 (fig.1, fig.2) and alternately fig 3 shows the percentile speed
represents the speed percentile of trucks and the calculation of on the graph for the trucks by drawing the perpendicular lines
the speed percentile is given in table 3 and the comparison cores ponding to the 50th, 85th and 98th percentile (fig.3)order
between the time mean speed and the space mean speed is to show the relationship, further this the time mean speed and
proven in table 4 which states (VT>VS) with respect to the space mean speed is being monitored on the given section for
particular class here we have taken truck in the excel sheet separate classes and their relationship is proven (VT>VS)
their bar charts and cumulative percentile graphs are drawn in which is shown in the excel sheet in (fig.4, fig.5)

Table 2: speed percentile of trucks

Trucks
Speed (km/hr) frequency Cumulative frequency Cumulative Percentage Speed Percentile
30-35 0 0 0
35-40 1 1 10
40-45 4 5 50
45-50 1 6 60
50-55 4 10 100

Table 3: calculation of the speed percentiles graphically

Percentile Trucks Buses Four wheelers Three wheelers Two wheelers
98th 49.75 69.5 87 37.5 54.5
85th 48 67.5 58 35.5 52.75
50th 40 62.5 30 32.5 49

Table 4: comparison between time mean speed and space mean speed
Speed Trucks Buses Four wheelers Three Wheelers Two Wheelers
Time mean Speed 48 65 54 35 53
Space mean Speed 31.479 64.068 50.024 34.99 52.659

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International Journal of Advanced Science and Research

Fig 1: histogram for trucks

Fig 2: cumulative frequency graph for trucks

Fig 3: lines representing percentile speed on graph for trucks

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International Journal of Advanced Science and Research

Fig 4: Time mean speed excel sheet

Fig 5: Space mean speed excel sheet

Hence Time Mean Speed is always greater than Space Mean percentile is the average or median speed in which 50% of the
Speed VT>VS vehicles tend to flow on the average speed that is 50 th
Speed percentile and how to use them Speed percentiles are percentile for that group of class of vehicles along the road
the usually the speed limits that are generated to determine the section.85th percentile is usually used to set the design speed
effective adequate speed limits. Usually two main percentile over a road system or we can say 85% of the drivers of
limits are used commonly (50th and 85th) percentiles. The 50th vehicles tends to travel at or below 85kmph or it is safe design

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International Journal of Advanced Science and Research

speed for a particular road system.it can be used in characteristics: a case study. International Journal of
recommending or evaluating the posted speed limits.85th Recent Trends in Engineering, 2006; 1(6):62-68.
percentile is normally considered to be safe maximum safe 4. Aronsson Kf, Bang KL. Influence on vehicle speed
speed on a particular road system or required design speed. profiles of interactions with other road users. European
98th percentile speed is generally used for the design Transport Conference (ETC) Association for European
geometric purpose or to assign the design speed for the road Transport, 2006.
way system 5. Chen Hu, Xiaoduan Sun, Shicui Liu. A Study on Speeding
Well Speed percentiles will get affected by the obstruction Driving Based on Expected Speed. ICCTP 2009: Critical
posed on the road system, bad weather like in rainy time we Issues in Transportation Systems Planning, Development,
may get other results. That is why spot speed is carried out on and Management, 2009, 1-6.
a sunny day traffic flow should be free, there should not be 6. Dey, Partha Pratim, Satish Chandra, and S. Gangopadhaya.
any sort of obstructions that may affect the driver’s behavior Speed distribution curves under mixed traffic conditions.
Speed percentile is calculated by this formula Journal of transportation engineering. 2006; 132(6):475-
481.
7. Thakor, dipak k., drlb zala, and aa amin. Traffic flow
characteristics for heterogenous Traffic on urban road-a
case study of selected stretch of anand city.
Where, 8. Berry Donald S, Daniel M Belmont. Distribution of
SD= speed at PD vehicle speeds and travel times. Proceedings of the Second
PD= percentile desired Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and
P max= higher cumulative percent Probability. The Regents of the University of California,
P min= lower cumulative percent 1951.
S max= higher speed 9. Minh, Chu Cong, Kazushi Sano, and Shoji Matsumoto.
S min= lower speed. The speed, flow and headway analyses of motorcycle
traffic. Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for
Conclusion Transportation Studies, 2005; 6:1496-1508.
1. The road surface are not maintained properly speed limits 10. Shahid Rasool Tarry. Effect of partial replacement of
board along the road surface is missing.so the drivers are coarse aggregates in concrete by untreated and treated tyre
not aware of the speed limit. rubber aggregates. International Journal of Advanced
2. The design speed is usually followed under the Science and Research, 2018; 3(1):65-69.
circumstances but the thing to instant growth of the
vehicles over the years
3. The median on the carriage way should be of proper width
as we have seen there where road section where the
maiden is totally absent which can results in accidents.
4. Traffic engineering tools like traffic signs, signals and
markings are not present on the road surface
5. Private sector vehicles are given preference over the public
which results in the growth rate of vehicles Therefore
comprehensive measures must be taken to have a check on
the growing populations
6. Speed as being an important asset in terms for
transportation usually people of age limits have different
speedy behavior on the road system
7. 98th percentile is used for design speed for the roads
8. 85th percentile may be used for designing speed limits
9. 50th percentile is the average speed of the vehicles that are
travelling on the road section

References
1. Xinwei Li, XiaoFei Wang. Determination Method of
Freeway Speed Limitation for Accident Prevention. ICTE
2013: Safety, Speediness, Intelligence, Low-Carbon,
Innovation, 2013, 2388-2395.
2. Thakor Dipak K, Drlb Zala, Amin AA. Traffic Flow
Characteristics for Heterogenous Traffic on urban road-a
case study of selected stretch of anand city.
3. Roshandeh, Arash Moradkhani, Mahmood Mahmoodi
Nesheli, and Othman Che Puan. Evaluation of traffic

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